1. The Field of the Invention
This application relates to milling equipment and methods for using such equipment in mining and construction operations. In particular, this application relates to a vibratory milling machine for removing materials in a substantially linear reciprocating motion to continuously remove the materials.
2. The Relevant Technology
Processes for removing materials, such as rock and hard materials, are often used in both the construction and mining industries. One common removal technique often used in mining involves drilling into and blasting a section of material with explosives and then mechanically removing the blasted material. The blasting and removal process is repeated until the desired amount of material is removed. This process can be time consuming, costly, very dangerous, and inappropriate for certain locations. Often, ground supports have to be used for safety reasons in drill and blast operations, i.e., to prevent collapsing.
Other types of machines have been proposed to mine materials that increase productivity and reduce labor costs. One type of machine that has been used is a roadheader. Roadheaders contain a boom-mounted cutting head, a loading device usually involving a conveyor, and a crawler traveling track to move the entire machine forward into the rock face. But often roadheaders are limited to being used with soft rock.
Another type of machine uses oscillation in combination with other motions, such as in a rotating mining tool, to cut rock with less energy than otherwise would be required. Attempts to produce a machine using these concepts have met with limited success, however, due to the destructive nature of the oscillation forces. Some other machines, such as tunnel boring machines (TBM), use a variety of rotating implements to cut and break the material for removal. However, the rotating implements require a high amount of maintenance and are slow compared to blasting and removal techniques. Additionally, TBMs are not suitable for mining because they are not able to be easily redirected or moved from one section of a mine to another.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced